Pakistan deaths in 'US drone strike'

At least seven people killed in attack on a compound in Khushhali Turikhel village of North Waziristan.

29 Jul 2012 15:50 GMT

A US drone attack has killed at least seven people in Pakistan, days before the country's intelligence chief's visit to Washington.

In Sunday's attack, the second in the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, missiles struck a compound in Khushhali Turikhel village of the North Waziristan tribal district, which lies on the border with Afghanistan.

"US drones fired six missiles into a militant compound. At least seven militants were killed," a security official told AFP news agency. "It is not immediately clear if there was an important militant killed in the attack."

The toll might rise as fighters search for colleagues buried under the rubble of the compound, the official said, adding that missiles also hit and destroyed two vehicles. Local intelligence officials confirmed the attack and casualties.

Khushhali Turikhel lies around 35km east of Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan which is considered a stronghold of Islamist fighters.

Ten fighters were killed on Monday in a similar attack in Shawal area of North Waziristan.

In a drone attack at the start of July, six fighters were killed and an attack on June 4 killed 15 fighters, including senior Al-Qaeda figure Abu Yahya al-Libi.

Washington visit

There has been a dramatic increase in US drone strikes in Pakistan since May, when a NATO summit in Chicago could not strike a deal to end a six-month blockade on convoys transporting supplies to coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Washington regards Pakistan's semi-autonomous northwestern tribal belt as the main hub of Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters plotting attacks on the West and in Afghanistan.

Drone strikes are likely to be a major issue discussed by Pakistan's spymaster, Lieutenant General Zaheer ul-Islam, and his CIA counterpart, when the former visits Washington on August 1-3.

Islam's trip on Wednesday marks the first Washington visit in a year by the head of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and signals a thaw in relations beset by crisis since US troops killed Osama bin Laden near Islamabad in May 2011.

On July 3 however, Islamabad agreed to end the blockade after the US apologised for the deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers in botched air strikes last November.

In protest at US drone attacks, local Taliban and Pakistani warlord Hafiz Gul Bahadur have banned vaccinations in North and South Waziristan, putting 240,000 children in the region at risk.

They have condemned the immunisation campaign as a cover for espionage. In May, a Pakistani doctor was jailed for 33 years after helping the CIA find bin Laden using a hepatitis vaccination programme as a cover.